Fast tracks for new temporary and grade schools in Boca

A temporary school for Verde and Addison Mizner Elementary schools during those rebuilds is still a go. The new grade school the state approved won’t be built in time for those teardowns, Palm Beach County school board chairman Frank Barbieri Jr. said Tuesday.

The district expects to start clearing the site in February. The city leased the land to the district. “We expect the school to be ready by August,” Barbieri said.

Some $20 million is set aside to rebuild Verde Elementary as a K-8 school to relieve overcrowding at Omni Middle, Barbieri said. That will be the first campus in the district to be razed and rebuilt.

The timeline for each Boca school rebuild is a year, he added. Once the new Verde is built, Addison Mizner students will move into the temporary school. “We have a very aggressive schedule,” for all the rebuilds, the new and temporary schools, Barbieri said.

“We will be adding the first new school in Boca in 18 years,” he added. That site is also on the Don Estridge Hi-Tech Middle School campus.

He plans to meet with Boca Raton Mayor Scott Singer and city council shortly to start talks about plans for the new grade school, he added.